Voyages of Intrigue and Discovery Meredith Keelan April S M T W Th F S         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30                 May S M T W Th F S             1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31           June S M T W Th F S     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30                       Friday April 16: 02:00 Will I wake up to the alarm? Will I sleep through it? Will I get hassled by airport security? Get up. Thank God for Direct TV and Nik at Night. I need to leave for Intercontinental Airport by 03:30 to give myself time to get through the Security. I am expecting some possible hassles with all the electronic equipment and Satellite phone. I arrived at the airport, was checked in and went through Security within 10 minutes. Now, I have to sit and wait almost 2 hours for my flight to Dallas. I met up with the UT party at Dallas. This included Paul Mann-Lead Scientist for the RV Ewing, Gail Christeson-Lead Scientist on the Seward Johnson II, Steffen Saustrup- Seismic data processor, Alejandro Escalona - Post-doctorate/scientist, Trevor Aitken-geophysics grad student, and Sean Sullivan-GK-12 fellow and my collaborator for the Teachers in the Field project. We arrived at the ship at about 15:30 and she looked well maintained, but rather tiny compared to the Norwegian cruise ship moored behind her. We were cleared through ships' security and taken to our quarters. I have a bunkmate, Suzanne Yin, who is a Marine Mammal Observer (MMO). Suzanne literally travels from ship to ship monitoring whale sightings associated with ocean research projects. Later in the afternoon, we were given a quick tour of the ship and waited for two Venezuelan Naval Observers, who will be traveling with us, and serving as contacts with other ships in the Venezuelan waters and liaisons with the government. At 15:00, the group of 11 headed to Old San Juan for dinner. Sitting at this long table we run the gamut in ages and experiences...this alone is very intriguing. Back to Calendar City Wall of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico R/V Maurice Ewing   Saturday April 17, 2004 06:30 It was good night's sleep, as warned, rather noisy. Ships continue to maintain regular watches and operations while in port. At 09:00, a group of us, now including Janelle Homburg- a 3rd year geology student from Rice, headed to the Fort of San Juan. This is a truly amazing structure. The walls protecting the Old City are at least 50 feet high and as thick as 12 feet, with multiple rows of cannon turrets. It was very easy to see how this city would have been difficult to attack and over-run. In the oldest portion of the fort there are even the remains of an artillery shell protruding from the ceiling. To see it one would first think it was an old rotting beam and not a projectile. We returned to the ship for our 13:00 meeting and safety training. Both research teams were present and the overall plan for the research was laid out. Both ships parties were introduced and I was very surprised at what an eclectic make up of the research team. These include Lt Col. Mario Rameriz and LtJG Adrian Bracho who are with the Venezuelan Navy, Claudio Fossati, a researcher from Italy who is studying Bioacoustics and will work with the MMO's Mary, Yin, Alejandro, and Howie. From a teaching aspect this will offer an exciting and very broad range of voices to this experience. The evening ended with helping Steffen Saustrup unpack, set up and most importantly "secure" the computers, by tying them down so they do not fall and break during stormy weather. Back to Calendar Fort San Juan Computer Setup on the Ewing   Sunday April 18, 2004: 09:00 The pilot boat arrived and we are on our way! The first leg of the journey will cover some 483 Nautical miles, taking us from San Juan to our first data point off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. This leg will take some 40 hours steaming at 10.5 km per hour! It is anticipated that each of the 5 research legs will take about 6 days to complete. The view leaving the port was spectacular as the ship rounded the harbor passing the Fort of Old San Juan: Castillo de San Felipe del Morro, constructed in the late 1400's. At 10:20 we had our first Fire and Abandon ship drill. Aboard a ship it is imperative that all hands, including those of us on board temporarily, know what to do and where to go. Everyone has a station they will assume in the event of a "Man-Over-Board" situation. During this time, I volunteered to show the procedure for donning the "Gumby" abandon ship water suit. Similar to a scuba wet suit, this suit protects you from hypothermia and drowning and is fitted with a strobe light and reflective tape. But, these suits are one size fits all...and I could have had 2 or 3 other people join me. As we sailed farther out into the Caribbean Sea, the seas became rougher and several of us had difficulty handling the ships motion. As most of the veterans said, if we stayed on deck this would pass quickly, and it did. In these 5-6 foot seas, one has to be very conscious of opening and closing hatches as these are very heavy and if one makes the mistake of leaving their fingers in the door jam, he/she will not have fingers left when the hatch closes. The remainder of the day has been spent getting my "sea legs" and beginning to think about activities and where I want to go with my goals. Back to Calendar Meredith and Alejandro Passing The Fort The "Gumby" Suit   Monday April 19, 2004 09:00 We have been steaming for 24 hours and are at the mid way point to our first Seismic line. We are due to arrive there by early morning. Continued software updates are being made and we are fine tuning the coordinates for tomorrow. The seas continue to keep us rocking and rolling and some of the research members are still struggling with their sea legs. Tonight we will begin our watches and fortunately for me, and the scientists, I will be able to stay with my normal day schedule. During the day we went through the logging procedures for when the real watches begin. This will involve monitoring 15 TV and computer monitors for everything from the firing timing of the guns to ship's course, and bottom readings. We also have to change the tapes that will record all the seismic data. So my day will begin with the 4-8 watch which means I will be rising at about 03:30, which is only and hour earlier than home. Meals are very good so loosing weight may not happen. Back to Calendar Seismic Computers & Data Recording Hardware   Tuesday April 20, 2004 19:00 We are steaming to Bolivar 1 Data line, and I started my second watch at 04:00 this morning. With my earplugs in, I didn't hear my alarm so Yin, my bunk mate had to wake me up. I will need to learn to sleep through the noise without my plugs. We were still in the practice mode during the morning watch. We arrived on station at about 06:00, so today was a very busy day. At 07:30, we began deployment of the equipment. This began with the MMO hydrophone streamer. This streamer will extend 50 meters off the end of one of the outriggers. The crew has never deployed it this way so it was a new experience for everyone. The streamer was first released from the stern to see how it would ride in the water, as they needed it to stay around 18 meters under water. A few changes in the Kilogram weights had to be made and with the few problems corrected, the streamer was relocated to the outrigger. Next came the deployment of the streamer buoy. This is a fragile piece of equipment that contains a GPS (so the ship can know exactly where the tail of the streamer is), and monitoring equipment that will help transmit data back to the ship. When deployed the buoy will be 6km behind the ship and well out of sight. With the buoy floated the release of the remainder of the streamer began. Each section of streamer is 75m long and where the hydrophones are on each section a, "bird" is attached. The "bird" will allow that portion of the streamer to fly right in the water. The birds are equipped with sensors that communicate with the ship and allow the ship to adjust how each bird is floating. Each section is also fitted with Kilo weights and minor adjustments were made with those. It took some 8 hours to deploy both streamers and make sure they were in communication with the shipboard lab. The final operation was the deployment of the air guns. The gunners released these in short order. The guns are of various sizes and will be suspended at various depths to produce one large compression wave that will go down and reflect off the sea floor. With the equipment deployed testing of the guns, called "ramping-up", began. With this came the interface with the MMO's. It will be their responsibility to keep us informed as to the presence of whales or dolphins in the area. There is a built-in safety zone that will protect these animal from possible damage from the compression waves. This zone will vary based on water depths and type of animal. For dolphins the safety zone is 3km and whales slightly longer. With the guns ramped up, actual data collection began around 02:00 on Wednesday morning. The firing of the guns is an amazing experience. From outside on deck you hear the "boom" and see the huge bubble rise up in the water. But from within the ship, especially on D-Deck, the lowest deck for bunks, it sounds like a WWII movie. So where's John Wayne? Regardless of the guns, and with earplugs or none, I should have no trouble sleeping tonight. Back to Calendar Deploying a Streamer From the Stern One of the Air Guns to be Deployed A "Bird", Used to Control the Streamer Alejandro and Sean on a Sensor Boom   Wednesday April 21,2004 21:00 Today the guns fired every 17 seconds or as they crossed pre-programmed GPS coordinates. We had no problems with the streamer, all the birds kept the streamer in line and at level, about 7 meters below the surface. There were a few minor gun problems but those did not interfere with data collection. The watches went by much faster with something to do. This includes monitoring the screens but also cataloging the tapes. I believe we will generate several hundred cassettes. In fact, there is a room full of cases of these data tapes. If this is an indication of how much data they intend to collect, 6 weeks isn't long enough. At 19:00 one of the MMO's, Alejandro Sayegh from the Cetacean Research Center gave a short presentation on Marine Mammals and his research in Venezuela. Alejandro Escalona then presented as short PowerPoint on what is known about the interactions of the plate boundaries we are here to study and what some of the goals of our research will be. It's interesting how after 18 hours of hearing the boom of the guns, you don't notice it any more. To help you to understand just how strong the compression waves produced by the guns are, as I was lying in bed listening to my CD player, each time the guns fired my CD skipped! Back to Calendar Multiple Screens for Monitoring Seismic Data   Thursday April 22, 2004 Today has been an amazing day. Little did I know that would get the "full meal deal" on this cruise. The morning watch was uneventful and the data was flowing. There were some minor problems with some of the weights along the steamer but our speed was keeping things aligned. It was a beautiful sunny morning and I was able to shoot some good footage of the guns firing. Around 10:00 things became very quiet and tense in the lab. It was then that I realized that for some time the guns had not been firing. As moments passed we were made aware that a crew member has suffered a fall of some kind and was experiencing some (possibly serious) medical problems. As a result it became necessary to pull in all the guns and streamers so the ship could stop or cut the engine back to allow a medical helicopter to do an evacuation of this crewman. With all hands on deck we began pulling in the streamers, which took some 4 hours. With all equipment re-secured on deck the ship increased speed, heading in the direction of Aruba. The helicopter lowered a Naval doctor on to the Ewing, and he checked the condition of the crewman. His determination was that the crewman was not fit to handle being hoisted up to the helicopter and said we were to take him to Aruba. Filming the helicopter coming in and picking the doctor up off the deck was an amazing sight. But, the plot only thickens. Now the ship is experiencing some rudder difficulties. The latest word now is that the ship is heading to Curacao where a diver will come and determine the problem and if and where repairs can be made. This has put much of the future research is question. So, as I said in the beginning, this has been a truly amazing day. Back to Calendar A Helicopter Lowers the Doctor to the Ship The Ship Will Steam to Aruba, then Curacao The Navy Doctor After His Landing   Friday  April 23,2004  21:00 When I got up this morning we were circling just off the island or Curacao.  We could easily see the smoke stacks of the petroleum plants and the oil storage tanks.  Off to the starboard side we could see the Seward Johnson II which met up with us.  The scuttlebutt is that we will be towed into port as soon as the tug and Pilot board and be taken into port.  Once there, divers will be assessing the rudder situation, and what happens from there remains a mystery. We were pushed into dock about 09:00 and the port authority and customs came aboard to verify passport and clear the ship and crew.  By 10:00 we were allowed to sign off the ship and start seeing the sights. Willemstad, Curacao is a territory of the Netherlands, so the Dutch influence is everywhere.  The buildings all have the Dutch architecture but also very vibrant colors one would expect to see in the Caribbean.  The city is divided into 2 large sections by the harbor, Punda and Otrabanda.  We are harbored on the Otrabanda side.  To get to the Punda side, where much of the shopping is we take a ferry which runs just down the dock from our mooring.  Typical of European cities, the streets are very narrow and the traffic is generally one-way, and seems to be in continual gridlock. In town, the shopping is not quite what you would expect for a tourist  site.  In fact, most of the stores are what one would expect in a regular city.  The tourist type shopping tends to be the kiosk stands set up in the various squares and lining the harbor.  Typical of any tourist site the prices rise sharply when the cruise ships come to town. There is a very interesting mix of people and languages. The Dutch spoken is a mix of Dutch and Spanish but everyone speaks English also.  Along the harbor is a section that is an open air market.  Moored there were some 15 small, shrimping-size boats all selling fresh fish (tuna, mackerel, snapper) fresh fruits and vegetables.  Curacao has no agriculture so fresh fruits and vegetables must be brought in from Venezuela.  Around sun down we can see these same boats heading out to sea, presumably to fish, or steaming to Venezuela for tomorrow's produce.  We estimate this daily journey takes some 6 hours to cover the  50 miles that lie between. I was surprised and a little dismayed to find that some things are universal.  Here too the kids bag and sag and the cars have loud boom box stereos, and everyone has “weaves” in their hair and the bright red highlights.  The kids are listening to similar music, some for the big Hip-Hop stars and obviously many from the Spanish sector of the recording industry.  On the square up the dock from here they were holding a large religious rally and I would estimate at least a thousand people were there. Back to Calendar R/V Seward Johnson II Coastline of Curacao Architecture in Curacao   Saturday  April 24, 2004 21:00 Repairs were started in earnest today.  There was scuttlebutt that we may go to a dry dock but the only one on the island is occupied until May 12.  The divers have been here all day working on repairs, but these will be difficult and require much more preparation, so it sounds like Monday we may get back on the seas. A group of us went in and rented 2 cars so we can get out and about.  We drove out to the far west end of the island and to the windward (north) side of the  island.  Here we could see how this island has been greatly eroded over the centuries.  Originating from volcanic eruptions the underlying basalt strata was overlaid with a thick layer of limestone, most of which is rich in coral fossils. Limestone thought weathers very easily and this is very evident by the colors.  As the limestone is dissolved the colors change from the characteristic gray to an orange to deep rust colored rock.  This is the result of the leaching of iron oxide and other mineral from the sea water.  This looks very much like the red lava but is obviously not. We saw several very large sea caves which are the result of just such erosion activities.  On the tide pools along these cliffs we found a wide variety of sea life, everything from chitins and small corals, to sea urchins and crabs.  We will never see these types of creatures in our waters along the Northern Texas gulf coast because our waters contain too much silt/runoff from agriculture and our salinity is too low. As we drove across the island we could see how much of the terrain has been uplifted and at many point the various water levels were easily identified.  Surprisingly, many people would think that being an island in the Caribbean automatically means that it is a lush very wet environment.  But here just the opposite is true.  Curacao as well as Aruba and Bonair are very desert like habitats.  This is due to their location off the coast of Venezuela.  The mountains in Venezuela block the winds and thus the cloud formation, hence the rain, so annual rain fall here is very low.  This is all very evident by the presence of the cacti and scrub type brush.  And typical of this type of foliage all contains some very serious thorns!  But true to the habitat thorns provide these plants a means of releasing the heat and a form of protection both from being eaten as well as trampled. We visited 2 beaches for a quick cooling dip.  As with most Caribbean islands there is little sand and that is crushed, very fine coral.  The water deepens very quickly, so my short 5’3” goes under quickly, a mere 50 feet out.  But the very high salinity makes floating easy so treading water takes little effort. On the return home we stopped at a portion of the old fort wall where they have constructed a long series of restaurants.  Pizza was the pick of the evening and the 9 of us made short order of the 8 pizzas ordered. Back to Calendar Arial View of Williamsted Rock Formations Along the Coast The Sand on Curacao's Beaches is Very Coarse   Sunday April 25, 2004  21:00 Ship repairs are still being made so the ships board says we sail at 09:00 Monday.  We opted to keep the cars for another day and headed off to the “Mountain”.  Mount Christoffel is the highest point on the island of Curacao.  Standing 375 m high ( 1000 feet ) it is believe this was, for a long period in the geologic history the only portion of the island that was above water.  The 9 us of planned to hike to the top.  We started at about 10:20 in the morning and the temperature was probably in the high 80’s with a higher humidity.  I made it about a quarter of the way up and decided it was in the best interest of me and the party not to continue.  Heat stroke as a teenager has left me easily heat stressed. With that in mind I chose not to continue so that I would not put myself, nor the party in jeopardy by possibly having to try to carry me down.  This climb is very steep; I would venture to say with every horizontal step at least 1.5 vertical feet is covered.  I would compare this to climbing very steep and high set of stairs.  The other 8 made it to the summit and down in about 2.5 hours. From there we went back to the park head quarters and had drinks and lunch.  There we were entertained by the bird feeders where species of Orioles, finches and dove were feeding. Also within the park is a series of caves and one cave in particular that contains Amerindian pictographs.  The are artifacts left by the Arawak Indians who inhabited the island from 2000 to 500 years ago.  Little is known about these Indians except that which was documented by Columbus in 1492.  These Indians are believed to have migrated here from South America as they were skilled boat builders.  Records show they had tree trunk canoes 75” long and could carry over 50 people.  They supported themselves by growing corn and other crops, as well as by fishing.    The word Caribbean is derived from Carib which means cannibal.  Apparently Columbus met with some of this, but as with all these islands, Columbus brought diseases which lead to the demise of this civilization. The Arawaks also played a “ball game” of sorts called “Batey” that is recorded here as well as on many other islands.  The outlines of the playing fields can be seen on various islands and it is believed the games also may have served as ceremonies.  It is also believed that these games were played by both men and women and very possibly, were intramural, between islands. From the caves we departed for a visit to one of the local beaches.  As it was Sunday, the beach, like home, was filled with families have BBQ’s and swimming. But, again the sun is brutal here so we only stayed about 2 hours. Back to Calendar Mount Christoffel Climbing Back Down the Mountain An Example of an Arawak Indian Painting   Monday April 26, 2004 21:00 Repairs are still underway and the hope is to be able to sail at 16:00.  With time limited and the sailing time possibly changing we all chose to stay close to the ship.  I ventured one last time into the city to make my contribution to the economics, purchasing a linen blouse, which is very common attire, some metal art, also common and a small oil painting of the harbor done by a local painter. The cruise ships are due in tomorrow so all the prices will sky rocket. Today was fairly long with little to do, and the crew and scientists are very ready to “blow this pop stand.”  The ill crewman will be flown back to New York tomorrow for more in-depth physicals.  He will be missed by all and his vacancy will also require some of us to cover his watches on the air guns. Back to Calendar Shops Along the Waterfront   Tuesday April 27, 2004 24:30 When we awoke this morning the sailing board still read 0900.  But, the diver’s equipment truck and equipment was still at the ship.  Shortly before 0900 the dive team showed up to complete the final repairs to the rudder.  We then had to wait on a US inspector and Pilot before casting off at about 1430.  The Ewing sailed out some 5km off the mouth of the port of Willemstad and began a series of maneuvers that would put stress on the rudder.  Based on the “Tactical Radius”, which is the turning radius of the ship would decide if the inspector would certify, and thus insure the ship for sea worthy.  This shake down lasted some 2 hours and made for a fairly interesting ride. By 1600 we were back on watch schedules and heading back to the point where data collection stopped when the medical emergency occurred.  At 1830 we again began the process of deploying all the equipment; hydroplane first, buoy, streamer and guns. This required remounting the birds and adding some additional weights to the center sections of the streamer.  We were able to get over ½ the streamer deployed in less than 2 hours, but we stopped short because they didn’t want the entire streamer out with several turns left to make to align back on track.  I received a very distressing E-mail this afternoon, for the school counselor.  Monday night one of our students was critically injured in an ATV accident, the prognosis is very poor.  This put things in a strange perspective.  Here I am, probably 3000km (4000 miles) from home, and in many respects the World and life still goes on.  We get a brief newspaper that comes via the Internet, and this keeps us up to date on world events, even all the sports scores.  But, hometown news only comes from home, and it has always amazed me how so much can happen is just a few days.  I went to a Marine Conference last July and Hurricane Claudette hit my county in Texas.  I go away now and my same county loses 2 kids, our boy to the ATV accident and an adjoining community loses a high school basketball player to and unknown illness; he just collapsed during practice.   I have also been made aware of several of my fellow teachers who have elderly parents that are have a range of problems. Not being able to be there to help out at school, covering their classes, etc is very difficult.  It also adds to the homesickness, that until today I’ve been able to keep a bay.   But, on a lighter note it has been nice not to have to deal with the headaches associated with the TAKS test.  That always makes for a long and tedious week. Back to Calendar The "Birds" before they are attached Re-Deploying the Streamer The Faintail Deck of the Ewing   Wednesday April 28, 2004 24:30 Back into the routine of watches, sea legs and constant noise, our journey continues.  Back at the point where medical emergency and rudder problems developed we are again collecting data.  We are now running the seismic lines for the OBS’s- Ocean Bottom Sensors.  These instruments sit on the ocean floor and record the velocities of the energy generated by the air guns as the waves move laterally through the rock and eventually reflected out.  The differences in the velocities indicate the type of rock forming that layer, density and thickness of the layer. The OBS's are approximately 6km (4 miles) apart, but we are shooting at 150m and 50m intervals.  After passing over the OBS line the Seward Johnson II will recover these instruments, download the data and re-deploy them on the next data line. We will be shooting this line until early morning on Friday. We are in much shallower waters, in some areas, less than a thousand feet.  This has added to the “War “ noise.  When the guns fire, even at 150m intervals (about 50 seconds) the sound is much louder and really bounces the ship.  Down in my cabin on D level (below the water line), it sounds and feels like being in a huge church bell.  Everything vibrates for several seconds.  Using my DVD camera and tripod I was able to record how loud, as well as, how much the ship shakes.  Obviously, sleep is now much more difficult. With the shallower waters also comes more movement of the ship.  I only thought we were rocking and rolling!  The movement is also more dramatic, sharper rises and falls.  Some of the science crew has still not developed the sea legs or stomach.  I can only thank God I haven’t had this problem. Back to Calendar OBS Operations on the Seward Johnson II Cleaning and Preparing OBS's   Thursday April 29, 2004  24:30 Today I woke to a very restless ship.  The guns were incredibly loud, the result of the very shallow waters.  We were also in very high seas.  Few of us felt well, but fortunately I’m not sick, just kind of “puny”.  My watch was very long and boring as everything was functioning correctly.  This makes the 4 hours pass too slowly. Skipping breakfast I returned to the rack for a couple extra hours of sleep.  After that, I was feeling much better, and I spent most of the day on deck in the sun and fresh air.  The ship continued to really shake and bake all day, so on deck was the best place to be.  One still hears the boom and some of the shake but not nearly as bad. The MMO’s are even complaining that they are not hearing any mammal activity.  Alejandro, as well as, the Adrian and Mario, from the Navy have told them these waters off the coast of Venezuela and Aruba have few fish so they should not expect to see or hear anything.  Their day too will be very long. Meals aboard the ship continue to be wonderful.  Over the 2 weeks we have been served everything from Prime rib to veal Parmesan hot wings to pork chops.  And to top it all off with Boston cream Pie, Banana Cream pie, strawberry short cake, you can’t go wrong! Back to Calendar Airgun Operations The Ewing is operating Offshore of Venezuela   Friday April 30, 2004 24:45 Last night was a rough one.  We hit a squall line shortly after our 4-8 afternoon watch began.  With it came very high seas and more people struggling with seasickness.  There was a small number at dinner tonight.  The ship was really taking some strong side hits as we were running perpendicular to the winds.  While on watch there was much discussion about being able to stay in the bed, and how not to be thrown out by the tossing of the ship.  Suggestions included packing your life vest under your mattress to make the outside higher, unfortunately the life vests are no longer kept in the cabins.  So the next series of suggestions included, sleeping on the floor or on the small couch (far shorter distance to fall), and my choice, tucking both sides of the sheets under the mattress much like our parents did when we were kids. Throughout the night we took several good hits that made me hold on, but overall I got a pretty good 6 hours or so in.  But, 0330 still comes way too soon. I think all the final permits and permissions have been secured so the cruise will be extended until June 3-when we are due into San Juan. The flights home will probably be the morning of June 4.  I’m sure I will be more than ready for that day! Back to Calendar A cabin onboard the Ewing     Saturday May 1, 2004  24:45 Today was a long day for everyone.  The waves have finally settled down and the sun is shining, but with all the rocking and rolling even minor activities, (sitting in a chair) become major physical events.  We are all pretty tired,  and I think it just hit many of us that we have only been out 2 weeks!  And with the new extension, we still have 34 more days to go.  That sounds extremely LONG! The watches are becoming very routine, each of us becoming more familiar with steps to starting and stopping shot lines, logging anomalies in the data stream, calling Richard (the science computer tech man) when we are clueless, and generally trying to keep busy as to not fall asleep. My watch crew, Chief “Dude” Alejandro, “Dude” Sean, naval observer Adrean and me are definitely the “A-Team”.  We are the well oiled machine when it comes to handling problems, ending lines and recording problems in the lines.  We have even had to go back and make corrections in the shot journals for errors previous watches have made.  But in minor defense of the other watches, we are the only group who has not suffered with the seasickness. However, that too is improving.  Richard had a pair of the seasick wristbands and Trevor and Mario have each donned one and they are like new men!  Trevor is finally smiling naturally instead of forcing a smile, and poor Mario (naval observer) isn’t excusing himself for 30 minutes at a time. Things are looking up. Back to Calendar Data Monitors So many monitors to keep track of     Sunday May 2, 2004  24:00 It’s been a long weekend, especially with little E-mail coming in, as the kids aren’t at school.  That is really the high point of the day, finding out what they are up to and getting their questions. The seas have settled so we had the BBQ up on the Bridge deck and it was well worth the wait!  We had such luxuries as New York Strip Steaks, Tuna steaks, baked potatoes and all the sides.  The captain even threw in Cokes (which are a true luxury) and non-alcoholic beer (by US naval law alcohol is not permitted on ships).  Watches continue and good progress in being made on the data lines.  Several adjustments to the actual lines have been made to insure that we complete the OBS tracks and allow the Seward Johnson II ample time to recover the OBS’s and re-deploy them on their next line.   Apparently this can be a rather long process. When the OBS’s are deployed each is attached to a 100lb. steel frame that takes them to the ocean floor.  They are each put overboard at a predetermined GPS coordinate.  After the Ewing has passed over that line of OBS’s,  the Seward Johnson II comes behind and using a radio signal tells each OBS to drop its’ anchor and float up to be recovered.  But when they are in 10,000 feet of water ( 1200+ meters) and only rise at about 60 feet /minute it takes about 30 minutes to recover just one.  Plus just because they were dropped at a specific GPS location does not mean that currents have not changed that slightly.   The Johnson II takes station and waits and the crew does some serious looking for the yellow boxes to pop up.  They say that night recovery is actually much easier as each is equipped with a strobe light that makes finding them bobbing among the waves easier. Well, exactly 4 weeks at sea down and 4 weeks 5 days until home. Back to Calendar BBQ on the Bridge Deck  OBS Retrieval Operations   Monday May 3, 2004  24:30 Today was a very long day.  I didn’t sleep well and it really hit me that there is still a long way to go in both data lines. I think we still have in the neighborhood of 33 days.  And it doesn’t help that Yin (MMO/cabin mate) and Trevor will be getting off in 2 weeks, as they have other commitments.  I did call back to school and talk with several kids, answering some questions. “Why are there no fish?” The water is too deep (12, 000’) “How’s the food?" Excellent; you can’t beat Prime rib, New York strip steaks, and Boston cream pie! “Was it worth it?” Yes, in every way. The food, crew, and experiences are amazing. “What animals have you seen?” Besides the mammals on the ship (us),  only a few dolphins. We have heard, only at great distance, some whale clicks.  We occasionally see assorted birds (boobies, terns and sea gulls) and flying fish. “Do you miss us?” Uh…NOT!  Mario is teaching me some Navy knots.  So far I have learned to tie the Turkish Hat, a knot very common on hand railings and hatch wheels, and the Plate 5 star that is a flat knot that looks like 5 intertwined circles.  Tomorrow he will teach me the flat 3 star.  I’m working up to the “Monkey fist”.  So as day 17 comes to a close…I look with great anticipation toward day 45! Back to Calendar Do Seismic Research - See the World! Nice Scenery in the Caribbean   Tuesday May 4, 2004  24:30 This morning had a beautiful sun rise, an uneventful watch, we ended Bolivar 61 and started Bolivar 62, so to quote Gary the Chief cook: “It’s a great day to be alive!”  The seas today remained relatively calm, one short passing shower and for most of the day we were able to see the northern coastline of Venezuela.  Because we are in somewhat shallower waters we also saw more tanker and transport ships.  It’s nice to know we are not totally alone out here.  The MMO’s have had several contacts, both visual and by hydrophones of dolphins, but still no whales.  Actually, that is a good thing.  If whales were to drift into our area, less than 3Km we would have to power back the air guns and that would result in the loss of some data.  But it would be very cool to see a whale! With the weekend behind I received some more questions from students.  These included Are there any cute guys?”, “How’s your tan?”, “Is there music on the ship and if so what kind?”, and "is there Day light savings in other countries and what time is it there?" The answers to these are: "Yes, but I’m old enough to be their mothers!“, "getting darker every day”, “Yes, everything from country to classical, with blues, swing and 60’s thrown in for color and thank God no metal!”, “I don’t think there is day light savings in other countries and out here we are one hour ahead of Texas.” But thinking about time, we function under several variations of time keeping.  First, our watches and the ship's clock is set to what is referred to as “Local time”.  I.e. 2:00, meaning 2 in the afternoon.  But on watch, we function under 2 other time systems.  GMT- Greenwich Mean Time or “Zulu”.  This is the time the military world functions under and is based on what time it is in Greenwich England. As we record data lines and shot numbers these are in “Zulu” time, which is actually 4 hours ahead of local time.  So when I go off of watch at 8 tonight it is actually 2400z. or midnight Zulu.   This brings me to the military 100 hours time.  This same 8pm tonight in military is 20:00 hours.  So for instance my morning watch begins a 0400 and ends at 0800, which is 0800z and 1200z, so now everything is confused.  But, there is even more! We also go by Julian Days, which really is just saying that today is the 125th day of the year, or May 4.  This can all get very confusing especially when trying to keep straight when a line will end, what watch, or how long will the line last.  With all this talk of time I now realize it is well past my bedtime and 3:30 still come entirely too quickly. Back to Calendar Chief Cook Gary Caribbean Sunrise Dolphin Sighting     Wednesday May 5, 2004 13:00 The 8 hours between shifts allows me time for a nap in the morning, which may be very good, especially if the deck remains quiet, but that wasn’t the problem today. There was lots of talking and doors slamming, so the nap was a bust. We are passing what are called the Isla Aves, or bird islands. Actually these are an Atoll of coral reefs. There is very little of these islands that extend above the water line so there is little to no vegetation. Obviously, the inhabitants are birds, including Terns, Boobies and Gulls. Most of the vegetation on these tiny islands was brought in on the wings of these birds. Passing these islands has caused a stir of activity on deck with everyone wanting to see land, even if it is only 100m long and 25m wide! It has a tree!!!! But, last night we witnessed a unique sight. As we sailed the Bolivar 63 line that runs between Bonaire and Venezuela a large flock of flamingoes flew across the bow, about 2 miles off. Bonaire has large breeding/nesting grounds that are protected from development and are now the home to these flamingos. The flamingos fly to Venezuela for “lunch” as a daily ritual, and we were observing the flight home. Living on the coast of Texas it is somewhat common to see flocks of Rosette spoonbills but I would guess few have seen flamingos in flight. Watch started out very normally this evening, logging shots, files and watching screens. But, shortly before 17:00, a call came in to the MMO corner of the lab. Sperm whales had been sighted off the bow. Needless to say, the rush was on, up to the flying bridge. Alas, I held my post (!) watching screens and writing down numbers. Several science crewmen claim to have seen the blow and the fluke (tail) as it surfaced and then went under the waves.  Fortunately for our research the whale was outside the 900m safety zone. The Marine Mammal Observers' responsibility is to make sure that if any mammal is heard by hydrophone or sighted, appropriate protective measures are taken. Based on the water depth we are in and the distance the animal is from the ship, they  decide if the guns have to be powered back. This distances varies with species and water. For the remainder of the watch I began learning to tie more Navy knots! Back to Calendar Location of Isla de Aves Bird Islands Flamingos on Bonaire   Thursday May 6, 2004 14:00 This morning, actually last evening, started with a bang. As Yin and I were getting ready for bed last night, we started to hear a grinding noise. This was a new noise we weren’t used to hearing. We thought it might be a winch as it only lasted for 10 minutes or so. I slept really well and now know why. The guns stopped firing about 9:45 or 00:45gmt. Arriving on C-deck, where the science lab is, at 03:50, I found the previous watch not "watching." They reported that one of the “Cans” (an instrument that relays the data from one section of the streamer to the next) has failed. As the Streamer was being pulled in to replace this can, 2 other complete sections of the streamer failed. Since about midnight last night the number of  guns being used was reduced from the full complement of 20 down to only 5. We kept these 5 guns firing so that marine life (whales and dolphins) would continue to be aware of our presence and wouldn't re-enter the area. Then we began the work of pulling in the streamer. When I made it to the fantail, in life jacket and hardhat, they were up to the bad sections of the streamer. It is a major undertaking to replace sections with the streamer deployed and the ship still moving at 3.5knots. The streamer is drawn in up to a special collar that secures the deployed section to the ship. The damaged section is then disconnected, and the ends capped to keep them clean. Then that section on the spool is immediately unrolled on to the deck. The hard part is rolling this “dead anaconda” by hand on to a spare wooden transport spool. I helped with this process 2 times, but they had to do it a total of 5 times over the night. Once this was done, we were ready for the replacement sections. The process of bringing these sections up from the C-deck storage container was also a very interesting operation. The ships crew had to winch 2 of these 1000lb spools up through a space only half again as wide as the spool and on to about an equally small section of the fantail. All this was done while the ship continued to rock and roll, and with only the work lights of the ship to illuminate the deck.  With new sections attached, birds remounted and streamer and g